Sleep? What sleep?
by Silvermoon42
Summary: What happens when dragons become sleep deprived? Well, Toushirou Hitsugaya's about to find out.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Sadly.**

* * *

The mountain of paperwork on his desk seemed to grow each time he looked at it. As he finished one sheet, there were always more to go. Toushirou rubbed his bleary eyes and looked at the clock on the wall, scowling when he saw that it was already midnight.

 _Damn Matsumoto,_ he thought, knowing that if she _actually_ did her work, then he'd be able to get some sleep. But, she didn't, so he didn't.

He worked through the night, occasionally getting up to go the bathroom or get some more tea, barely noticing the sky lightening and the sun rising. He was just finishing the paperwork and thinking about collapsing on the couch for a well-deserved nap when his extremely late, quite busty, and exceptionally lazy Lieutenant opened the door.

"Captain!" she sang, giving him a terrifying hug. He squirmed, but was trapped. "You're up early!"

She finally released him, and he stepped back, giving her an icy glare. "I was up doing _your_ paperwork. Now sit down. The next shipment's going to arrive soon."

She sat in her chair with a loud, over dramatic sigh. Toushirou debated a nap, but there was a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal someone he very much disliked. Not because they had a bad personality or anything like that, it was just that this person always brought a new batch of paperwork. He took it, managing to dismiss the person without freezing their hands, and put half on Rangiku's desk, although he had no hopes that she would actually _do_ any of it.

His fears were correct. She sat in her chair painting her nails, doing her hair, humming, and basically ignoring her paperwork.

"Matsumoto," he growled, and the room temperature dropped several degrees. "Do your work."

"But Captain…"

"Matsumoto." She picked up her brush with a sigh, and after he returned his gaze to his own work, she set it down and shook her hands to dry the paint.

"MATSUMOTO!"

* * *

That night, he only stayed up until three, and managed to stumble to his quarters for a power nap. Then he woke at six, and had a quick breakfast, blinking heavily the entire time. He was starting to feel the effects of his all-nighter and three hours sleep: his brain was slow, his stomach felt weird, and his eyes hurt. He almost fell asleep as he was sitting to put on his shoes, and splashed cold water in his face. It helped. A little.

The stacks of paperwork were already on his desk when he entered the office, and he stood there for a moment, glaring at them. Then he got to work.

His Lieutenant stumbled in several hours later, and the smell of sake drifted in with her. "You've been drinking again," Toushirou sighed.

"No." She went up to his desk, grinning. " _You've_ been drinking."

"I'm going to need to start." He did his best to ignore her, knowing that it was impossible for her to work without doodling on them, so he ordered her to the couch to sleep it off. She lay on it and was instantly asleep.

Toushirou closed his eyes and put his head in his hands, wondering what he'd done to deserve such a lousy Lieutenant.

"Shiro?" His head jerked up as he heard the voice, and had to blink rapidly before he could focus on his childhood friend, Momo.

"Oh, hi," he said, and his eyes saw the papers she held. "What are those?" His voice made it clear he thought of them as evil.

She held them out to him nervously. "Oh, these were delivered to the fifth by mistake." He took them, and noticed she was shivering. He guiltily sealed his leaking reiatsu, and the room warmed up a little. Momo bowed to him, and he suddenly thought of something.

"Lieutenant Hinamori?" She turned.

"It's _Captain_ Hitsugaya."

* * *

"Matsumoto. Matsumoto. Matsumoto!" He frowned and went over to the couch, leaning over the back. "Matsumoto!" She didn't move, and he rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath. "MATSUMOTO!"

The whole division heard it.

She jumped and peered up at him. "You didn't have to shout like that, Captain."

"Yes, I do, because you don't wake up when I'm quieter."

"Yes I do."

Toushirou scowled down at her, his lack of sleep making him want to strangle her. Well, more than usual. "I'm going to the training session. When I get back, I want that stack of papers to be done."

"Yes, Captain."

He strapped on his sword, and turned to her, suspicious. She only worked if he forced her to or if she wanted something. Deciding to leave it alone, he went to the training field, where the squad was gathering. He leaned against the wall in the shadows, arms crossed and hiding his reiatsu to wait for the rest to arrive.

Despite having an ice-type zanpakuto, the sun was warm but not too hot in the shade, causing Toushirou to become even sleepier. He yawned, crossed his arms again, and closed his eyes. Then he forced them open. He would _not_ fall asleep. Shaking his head, he walked towards his waiting subordinates.

* * *

The pile of papers was barely dented. Still, the sight of Rangiku actually sitting behind her desk signing them was a sight not often seen. Toushirou sighed, not having the energy to yell at her, and went to his desk to fight the ever-growing paperwork.

After a long and tiring training session – in which he only barely managed to barely keep his anger in check in order not to freeze them all where they stood – he'd gone back to his quarters and took a bath, filling it with cold water. Due to his icy spirit, his body temperature was much below regular people, and so he loved the cold.

He had to force himself out of the bath and back to the office, to finish his work. As he sat at the desk, staring down at the swimming words, he wondered if the other divisions had as much paperwork as he did. He was betting not.

"Captain?" He looked up to see Rangiku standing in the open doorway, smiling.

"Matsumoto–"

Ignoring the warning in his icy voice, she went on. "I'm going drinking. I'll see you tomorrow!"

All members of Squad 10 in the barracks heard the angry "MATSUMOTO!" that rang out, and some saw the cause of it, happily shunpoing away. Most ignored the yelling, as it was a daily occurrence.

* * *

The damn clock was ticking again. Toushirou found himself staring at it, watching the second's hand move, wanting to slash the whole thing to bits. But that would require getting up, and he needed to finish his paperwork.

He picked up his pen and did his best to focus on the papers, managing to ignore the ticking for a while. But, when he got up to stretch and make more tea, he heard it.

He eyed Hyourinmaru, and seriously considered destroying the stupid thing. But the whistling of the kettle stopped him.

Back at his desk, he sighed and stared down at his fresh tea, seeing the spinning liquid, and blinked. Suddenly, there, clearly visible on the surface, was an image of a snowy mountain, a frozen creek, and falling snow. When he blinked again, it was gone, but he was left with an urge to dive into the cup of tea.

 _"_ _You need to rest, Master,"_ his ice dragon spirit said in his head. Toushirou took a long sip of the tea, and felt some energy come back to him.

"No, I have to finish my work." He signed a few more papers, then looked at the stack in front of him. It looked about a foot high. He frowned. Was it really that big? Ah, whatever. He continued working, but the question gnawed at his mind, and he kept glancing at it. _Was_ it a foot high? It looked like it.

He tried to ignore it, but a few minutes later he was searching through the drawers in his desk, looking for a ruler. He couldn't find one, and decided to search again.

 _"_ _Master, you really need to go to sleep,"_ Hyourinmaru sighed as Toushirou went through the drawers a third time.

"After I measure it."

 _"_ _Is that really necessary?"_

"Yes!" He was answering the dragon aloud, as he was alone, and in his sleep-deprived state, he didn't really care if anyone thought he was crazy. He just needed a ruler. Giving up with a sigh, he stuck his head out of the office, looking up and down the halls for anyone still awake. If he was thinking clearly, he would have realized it was three in the morning, and no one was likely to be awake. But, since he wasn't thinking clearly, he headed out to wander around and find someone.

He walked around for a while, and found himself trying to avoid the shadows. There was a full moon out, and its light dappled the floor. It soon became a game to him, which was unusual, since he _hated_ people thinking of him as a child, and would never be caught dead playing. But, his mind was going slightly crazy with lack of sleep, and it resulted in him jumping from light spot to light spot.

One of the squad members was happening to walk past, as he had just come back from his girlfriend's house, and found the normally stoic, calm, mature Captain balancing on one foot in a pool of moonlight.

"Captain?" the member asked, needless to say, very confused. The Captain looked terrible, his normally messy but spiky white hair was limp, he had dark rings under his eyes, and, most disturbingly, he was laughing quietly. The member had to strain his ears, and wasn't even sure he was right, but he thought he heard the Captain _laughing_. Laughing!

"Oh, hey," the Captain said, looking up at him and still balancing on one foot.

"Are you all right, Captain? Do you need help?"

"Yes, yes I do." The Captain crossed his arms, which didn't help his balance, and he ended up on the ground.

The squad member was too surprised to do anything, and now he could clearly hear the young Captain laughing. Pulling himself together, the Captain stood and stared at the member, his turquoise eyes blurry.

"Do you have a ruler?"

The question caught him off guard, and the squad member stuttered, struggling for an answer. "N-not on me-e," He managed to get out. "If I may ask, Captain, why do you want one?"

The Captain shrugged. "I want to measure my papers."

"Oh…" He watched as the Captain started to turn, but stopped.

"I'm also thinking about killing my clock."

Thoroughly confused, the squad member could only watch his small Captain walk away. _I must be dreaming,_ he thought.

* * *

He jerked his hand in hopes of getting rid of the light tickling. It stopped for a moment, then continued again, and he finally opened his eyes to see a black Hell Butterfly inches away from his face.

He jumped back, falling from his chair to crash on the ground. He groaned, and saw the butterfly hovering above him. Fine…He held up a finger and it landed on it to deliver its message.

"There is a Captain's meeting at ten am. All Captains are required to come," the Head-Captain's voice announced, and Toushirou dismissed the butterfly, propping himself up on his elbows to see the clock. It was currently eight thirty. He had time, so he laid back and stared at the ceiling. There was a clown staring back down at him.

Several minutes later, after scrambling away and grabbing Hyourinmaru, the clown had gone. Glaring at the ceiling, he went to his desk. Though the pile had much decreased, there was still a considerable amount on it.

He frowned, trying to remember last night. He'd worked, went out, came back, and worked until…he screwed up his face, trying to remember. It had to be either six or seven, and by the end, he was fairly certain he'd been telling his clock to shut the hell up.

He felt terrible, and decided to leave the paperwork alone, promising to freeze Rangiku to her chair and force her to do it. Chuckling, he laid down on the couch.

* * *

There was a stack of living paperwork dancing around him, taunting him and multiplying every second. Soon it was waist-high, and he was struggling to stay on top. One particularly tall stack rose up and said, "Captain."

"What?" He blinked and swung Hyourinmaru at it, but the paperwork simply swallowed the blade. It quickly turned into a tug-of-war, with the papers still saying, "Captain."

He finally succeeded in pulling out his sword, stared at it when it yelled, "Captain!" It promptly turned around and said, "Captain, don't you have a meeting?"

Toushirou suddenly jumped and sprang to his feet, though he was swaying. Rangiku stared in surprise as he ran around the room, finding his shoes, falling over in an attempt to put them on, and strapping on his sword.

"Captain, how long have you been here?" she asked, more than slightly concerned. He shrugged, pulling on his captain's haori.

"All night."

She studied him, taking in his wrinkled clothes, baggy eyes, and his jerky movements, wondering if he'd gotten enough sleep. He instantly proved that he hadn't, as he looked at the clock, saw it was nine forty three, and said, quite loudly, "Oh, crap, I'm going to be late to the meeting!"

The door slammed, leaving a startled Rangiku. Her Captain almost _never_ cursed!

It took him several minutes to get to the meeting, even with shunpo, as he kept stopping to avoid walls, people, and objects in general.

He finally made it - surprisingly on time - and took his spot in line, covering a yawn. The Head Captain banged his staff on the ground, and started the meeting.

It was long and boring and _so warm_ in there! The Head-Captain had a fire-type zanpakuto, and the normally uncomfortable heat was soothing to the sleep-deprived young Captain, who was finding it very difficult to stay awake. He was blinking rapidly, pinching himself, and generally doing everything he could think of to stay awake without being disruptive. He thought about cold snow, ice, mountains, then when that didn't work, he focused on Rangiku, wondering how much she could drink without passing out. He was betting a lot.

"Captain Hitsugaya, are you all right?"

His head snapped up, and he saw that all the Captains were staring at him, including the Head-Captain. "Yes, why?"

"You've been swaying and staring at the ground for the past ten minutes," Captain Unohana said, studying him. "Are you sure you're feeling all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Then would you give us your input?"

Toushirou stared at the Head-Captain, silently panicking. What had they been talking about? He'd been so focused on staying awake that he hadn't been listening. That was obviously a big mistake.

"About the budget," Ukitake said, taking pity on him.

"Oh, uh…" Toushirou then gave the best answer he could think of on the spot.

"Thank you. Try to pay more attention."

"Yes sir," Toushirou said, and he did try. He really did. Unfortunately, his brain shut down several minutes later, presumably from only getting about six hours of sleep in the last few days, and he fell asleep without noticing.

Captain Zaraki was giving a very long, very boring speech about his idea on the budget, which, for some reason, included gladiators, when a loud thump echoed through the hall. All the Captains jumped and turned to the source of the noise, and stared in stunned silence as a now very awake and very much hurting Captain of the tenth squad was slowly getting to his feet, rubbing his knees. Even the Head-Captain's eyes opened.

Toushirou's knees hurt. A lot. Apparently he'd fallen momentarily asleep, only to wake when he collapsed to his knees. If they were hurting now, he could only imagine the pain he'd feel tomorrow.

He looked up, and his face burned, seeing everyone once again staring at him. "I'm really sorry," he apologized, desperately hoping the Head-Captain was in a good mood. "I've gotten about six hours of sleep in the past three days, and I wanted to kill my clock, and I really need sleep."

There was a long, awkward silence, and the only explanation Toushirou could think of was that the Head-Captain was thinking of ways to kill him. Probably long, painful ways.

"Figure it out on your own time. Do not interrupt Captains' meetings for matters as trivial as this in the future."

"Yes, Head-Captain," Toushirou said gloomily.

* * *

After the meeting, Toushirou stumbled back to his division for a long-overdue nap. Unfortunately, once he got in, he met Rangiku.

"Captain!" she sang, squishing him in her usual hug. "So, I've got to go and…Captain?" He took her hand and started pulling her along after him. "What...are you doing?"

He didn't respond, and simply dragged her to the office, ignoring the strange looks he got from the division members. Once inside, he pointed at Rangiku's chair. "Sit," he said firmly. She sat. His reiatsu - thick and slushy - wasn't something you should mess with at the moment.

Going over to his desk, he took up a large stack of paperwork, then plopped it down on his Lieutenant's. "You will do this." He narrowed his eyes, but only in an attempt to focus his vision.

"Ah, but Captain, I-"

"Do it, or I will freeze you to that chair."

"Captain, you-"

"Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!"

* * *

Some time later, Toushirou was lying on the couch, fast asleep. His Lieutenant was working, very disgruntled, very cold, and very bored. She didn't think her Captain was _serious_.

Now she knew better.

"Captain, I'm done," she called, not wanting to be stuck to this chair any longer. He grunted, but didn't move.

The next few minutes consisted of Rangiku whining and annoying her Captain, with him trying to ignore her.

"Captain, if you don't unfreeze me, I'm going to get frostbite, and I won't be around for a long time, and you'll be all alone, and-"

"SHUT UP!"

* * *

An unseated member of the tenth squad knocked hesitantly on the Captain's office door. A female voice - sounding very depressed - called him in, but what he saw made him stop in his tracks.

The Lieutenant appeared to be _working at her desk_ , a sight as rare as a flying pig, and the Captain wasn't at his desk. Ten flying pigs. Also, in front of her desk was a small table, and on that table was what appeared to be a full jug of sake.

"Oh, good," the Lieutenant said, giving him a grateful look. "Could you pass that to me?" She gestured towards the sake, then at herself. "I can't get it."

Sure enough, she was frozen from the waist down to the chair.

"If you do that, I shall freeze you and hang you from the balcony," a grumpy voice said, making the squad member jump. He looked towards the couch, but he could only see the back. However, he had recognized the Captain's voice.

He looked back to see Rangiku trying - and failing - to reach the sake bottle. She was just a few inches away, but no matter how much she stretched, she could not touch it. She sat back with a huff, and gave him a pleading look.

"Your chances of becoming an icicle are increasing the longer you stay here." The Captain's voice came again, sounding deadly serious. The squad member swallowed, placed the papers on the Lieutenant's desk, and hurried out, wondering if he was in an alternate dimension.

He walked out of the division, and saw Captain Zaraki 'playing' with Lieutenant Kusajishi. In actuality, she was braiding his hair.

The squad member promptly turned and went back to his quarters to drink.

* * *

 **So, thanks for reading it! Just so you know, I changed the ending. It is better than the original.**


End file.
